Austin 360 Movies: 'Daddy Day Care' Reviews -- Omar Gallaga, Ameican-Statesman

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'Daddy Day Care'

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Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Anjelica Huston
Director: Steve Carr
MPAA rating: PG for language
Release date: May 9
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Dads rule this roost

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Eddie Murphy surprises despite frenzy around him

By Omar Gallaga
American-Statesman Staff

Posted: May 9, 2003

Your reaction to the new Eddie Murphy film "Daddy Day Care" will largely depend on your tolerance for screaming children, whether on screen or in the movie theater audience.

If you're a parent, and you don't mind kicking and wailing, you might enjoy it. If, on the other hand, the sound of a child in full Ritalin-deprived-tantrum mode jangles your nerves worse than, say, SARS, you might be better off seeing something more calming, like "X2" or "The Matrix Reloaded."

What's surprising about "Daddy Day Care" is how awful it's not. Judging from the past few Murphy movies, spectacular box office misfires such as "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," "Showtime" and "I Spy," it's easy to expect yet another in a string of forgettable, regrettable films starring the man who was once one of the best comic actors of his generation.

Like his middling hits "The Nutty Professor," "Dr. Dolittle" and their sequels, "Daddy" looks from its previews to be a gross-out, lowbrow parade of toilet humor and wackiness.

That's only partially true. While it's got an extended potty-training joke and the requisite kid-kicks-a-grown-man-in-the-crotch bit, "Daddy Day Care" also has a surprising number of warm moments (in fact, it too often veers toward cutesy) and a relaxed performance from Murphy. The film, in fact, is much more family friendly than you'd expect, with nary a curse word or any excessive violence to be found.

Murphy plays Charlie Hinton, a father on the corporate fast track who spends more time with his two-way pager than with his adorable son. When a doomed breakfast cereal project (the amusingly unsellable, Veggie-O's) tanks, Murphy and his partner (a hilarious Jeff Garlin) are laid off. In a quick succession of plot contrivances, Murphy decides to open a day-care center, eschewing the strict discipline of rival day care Chapman Academy. How hard could taking care of a dozen post-toddlers be?

Plenty tough, as the bulk of the film's middle demonstrates. In the land of sippy cups, finger paints and thumbsuckers, two grown men don't have a chance. Messes are made, shins are kicked, candy-fueled sugar highs become a "Mad Max"-style struggle for survival.

The setup is enough to send nonparents bolting for the door, but what grounds the film is Murphy's assured performance. There are no fat suits, no gadgets and very little attitude. Murphy plays a regular guy, for once. The actor, who has several kids of his own, is best in his quiet, loose scenes with his on-screen son and in conversations with Garlin, who is as effective and funny a second banana here as he is playing Larry David's sleazy sidekick in HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." "We need Ritalin and leashes," Garlin says at one exasperated moment, and his desperation cuts right through the film's treacle.

Beyond its paint-by-numbers plot points, much of "Daddy Day Care" feels improvised, which is good for Murphy, Garlin and co-stars Jonathan Katz and Steve Zahn, who make the most of their small roles. Not so good are the film's rote set pieces, including an embarrassing part for Anjelica Huston as the priggish owner of Chapman Academy. The struggle between the rival day cares gives the movie a tired, almost joke-less last act that puffs and struggles to the finish line. Also wheezy are the music montages (do we really need to hear "Walking on Sunshine" in any movie ever again?) or an unexplained concert performance by Cheap Trick.

Like Bernie Mac on his Fox TV show, Eddie Murphy makes a cool dad, a no-nonsense, loving father with attitude who doesn't subscribe to the holy tenets of psychology-based child rearing. But, like a hyperactive child grasping frantically at any short-term amusement, "Daddy Day Care" never settles down. It's sweet and sticky, all loose limbs going nowhere, and badly in need of a nap.